Brunnstrom likely to choose Canucks over Wings

According to the CBC's Scotty Morrison, the Vancouver Canucks are likely to beat the Red Wings in the Fabian Brunnstrom sweepstakes:

April 12, CBC Sports: It appears the Vancouver Canucks are the winners of the Fabian Brunnstrom sweepstakes.

No fewer than 20 NHL teams expressed interest in the 23-year-old Swedish winger, who went undrafted and played the past season in the Swedish Elite League with Farjestad.

As reported on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, Brunnstrom had a short list of five or six and further reduced that to one: the Canucks, whose general manager, Dave Nonis, did a good job of selling the youngster on the team and the city. Now the Canucks have to finalize contract details with agent J.P. Barry over the next week.

Among the finalists for his services were the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks. The opportunity to be a top-six forward in Vancouver and potentially play with the Sedin twins is believed to have help with his decision.

Brunnstrom is a speedy and skilled winger, who is now 23, and a classic late bloomer.

Here's the video of the Satellite Hotstove panelists discussing the issue...

TSN's Darren Dreger confirms the news:

April 12, TSN: The Canucks and Brunnstrom's agent JP Barry are hoping to have something finalized within the next week to ten days as the process has heated up over the last few days.

The 23 year old Brunnstrom recently finished his rookie season with Farjestad of the Swedish Elite league, so Barry is ironing out the legalities as defined by an out clause in Brunnstrom's existing contract with the Swedish club.

Brunnstrom's NHL agreement will be at least two years and it's believed his compensation will reflect that of a top four draft pick, meaning he'll command at least $2 million per year when he signs.

The bottom line for Brunnstrom is about playing time, and the Red Wings, despite their 16-year playoff streak and presence of seven Swedish-born players, simply cannot and will not offer him a spot in their "top six" up front unless he earns it:

Sources say Brunnstrom feels very comfortable with the direction of the Canucks and has a keen interest in playing alongside fellow countrymen, Daniel and Henrik Sedin in addition to being touted a good fit in Vancouver's top six.

It's worth noting that it's not the CBC or TSN that picked up on this story first, per se: Inside Hockey's Farhan Devji spoke to both Brunnstrom and TSN's Bob McKenzie to see what was up, and he received these comments from McKenzie:

April 11, Inside Hockey: Detroit Red Wings Director of European Scouting, Hakan Andersson was the first on the Alexander Edler case four years ago, before head European scout Thomas Gradin of the Vancouver Canucks heard the rumblings and convinced the organization to use their third round draft choice on him. This time around, according to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, the Toronto Maple Leafs were the first to express interest in Brunnström, yet the same result may very well come about.

"It's my understanding the Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the first teams, thanks to their Euro scout Thommie Bergman, to take notice of Brunnström but the organization may have been slow off the mark in terms of proceeding, which allowed everyone else to enter the fray," said McKenzie. "The Red Wings are the gold standard when it comes to finding gems in Sweden but I don't know that Detroit was ahead of the curve on this one. The Wings are certainly in the mix on Brunnström but so are Vancouver and Toronto and some others."

McKenzie went on to say: "He will certainly get a contract commensurate with a high-end first round draft choice and will be given the opportunity right off the bat to earn top six forward type minutes. How well he embraces that remains to be seen, but he is, at this point, based on my conversations with scouts, a great prospect as opposed to a great player and he may need some time to adjust," when asked if Brunnström can be expected to be an impact player in the NHL next season.

The Detroit News's John Niyo summed up the situation succinctly:

April 12, Detroit News: Reports out of Vancouver back in February suggested the Canucks were his first choice.

In the end, it was going to come down to where Brunnstrom and his agent felt the best fit would be, and certainly there's more ice time available with the Canucks than there is with the Wings at this point. He'd fit in nicely with the Sedin twins on that second line, perhaps.